Videoslots Limited Regulatory Settlement
A regulatory settlement penalty package of £2,000,000 has been agreed, which consists of the following elements:
- a payment in lieu of a financial penalty of £1,505,158.02 which will be directed towards socially responsible causes
- divestment of £494,841.98
- agreement to the publication of a statement of facts by the Commission
- payment of £11,308.00 towards our investigative costs.
Conclusion
Our investigation found, and Videoslots accepts, that there were significant weaknesses in its ability to implement its policies and procedures for AML and safer gambling purposes.
In considering an appropriate resolution to this investigation, the Commission has had regard to the following aggravating and mitigating factors:
Aggravating factors:
- the nature of the breaches may mean other customers were affected that the Commission has not reviewed
- the breach arose in circumstances that were similar to previous cases the Commission has dealt with which resulted in the publication of lessons to be learned for the wider industry
- some of the breaches continued for a period of 1 year and 9 months
- this is the second S116 review the Licensee has been subjected to. The first resulting in a settlement of £1 million.
Mitigating factors:
- the Licensee has taken steps to rectify the breaches highlighted
- the Licensee’s has accepted the key failings
- the Licensee has acted in a timely manner and been co-operative with the investigation
- the Licensee was transparent during the review period and outlined that operational effectiveness was severely impacted during the relevant period by the Covid pandemic.
Good practice
Gambling operators should take account of the failings identified in this investigation to ensure industry learning. Operators should also consider the following questions:
- do lessons learned from public statements flow into your policy and processes?
- are you providing your staff with appropriate training to ensure that they are aware of the law relating to money laundering and terrorist financing, and how to recognise and deal with transactions, activities or situations which may be related to ML or terrorist financing?
- do you have sufficient resilience within your AML and social responsibility functions?
Notes
1 The Commission commenced its regulatory review on 9 February 2022
2 This demonstrates the overall breach period. The period the Licensee was in breach for each condition varies and has been detailed further under the relevant sections below.
Previous pageVideoslots Limited Findings
Last updated: 15 June 2023
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